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Thursday, August 18, 2005

Minnesota Twins -- September Surprise?

The Minnesota Twins have provided Minnesotans with back-to-back-to-back Central Division titles. In July, the Twins suffered a slump that eliminated them from the Central Division race and seemed to create an insurmountable distance between them and the red-hot A's. But, the Twins have managed recently to win series against each of the AL Division leaders and appear to be ready to make a run at recently-slumping A's. The Twins' pitching is good enough. If the hitting picks up, they might just be able to do it.

PREDICTION: The Twins will win the wild card and make their fourth playoffs in a row.

You've got a point. But, if the externalities of a stadium are objectively obvious, then there are only two possible reasons for no stadium. One, the people are stupid. Two, the people don't believe in externalities. I believe in the latter. I am afraid most economists believe in the former. Do you agree Chris?

You, in a sense, contradict yourself. If people don't believe in externalities, but externalities are real, then people are being stupid.

Economists certainly don't agree that most people are stupid or believe things which aren't true. Our standard operating procedure is to try to find explanations for things where everyone is acting perfectly rationally based on a correct understanding of the world they live in.

And we have no shortage of explanations for why less than perfect outcomes can occur once government is involved. The main strand running through these explanations is that there is no constituency for government policies which promote the common good. People care about what helps them , not what helps us.